Bobby Hutcherson

Astell&Kern, the leading hi res portable music player that boasts studio sound quality, has announced a special package partnership with Blue Note Records to commemorate the record company's 75th anniversary in the world of Jazz and Blues. 75 legendary Blue Note jazz albums that have been remastered in the Hi-Res digital format. Especially, five Blue Note albums make their exclusive hi-res audio debuts with this release: Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers' Mosaic, Tina Brooks' True Blue, Don Cherry's Complete Communion, Andrew Hill's Point Of Departure, and Bobby Hutcherson's Components.

Right from the stop-start bass groove that opens "The Emperor," it's immediately clear that Ethiopian Knights is more indebted to funk – not just funky jazz, but the straight-up James Brown/Sly Stone variety – than any previous Donald Byrd project. And, like a true funk band, Byrd and his group work the same driving, polyrhythmic grooves over and over, making rhythm the focal point of the music…

Prince Lasha & Sonny Simmons - Firebirds (1967) {Contemporary OJCCD-1822-2 rel 1993}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks) +CUE+LOG -> 244 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 95 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 18 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1967, 1993 Contemporary Records / Fantasy | OJCCD-1822-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

The second of two collaborations by Prince Lasha (on flute, alto, and alto clarinet) and Sonny Simmons (alto and English horn), this set has been reissued on CD. Vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Buster Williams, and drummer Charles Moffett offer stimulating support and close interplay with the two lead voices, who contributed all five selections. The music is influenced by (but not too derivative of) Ornette Coleman's free jazz style, and the improvisations are pretty advanced and sometimes quite emotional. Lasha and Simmons made for a potent team, making one wish that they would have a reunion someday. An underrated classic of its kind.

Judgment! is a the fourth studio album by jazz pianist Andrew Hill, recorded and released in 1964 on Blue Note Records. Composed of a rhythm section and vibraphone - played by Bobby Hutcherson - Hill weaves his music around a complex harmonic structure.

Time for Tyner is the ninth album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner and his third released on the Blue Note label. It was recorded in May 1968 and features performances by Tyner with Bobby Hutcherson, Herbie Lewis and Freddie Waits. The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested "Core Collection" calling it "a powerhouse performance from first to last." The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow calls the album "A fine all-round showcase for McCoy Tyner in the late '60s".

Tony Williams was just 18 years old when he recorded this, his 1964 debut as a leader, but he was already a prodigious drummer who could maintain a rapid-fire flow of subtle accents that prodded a soloist into fresh directions. His effect on a band was electric, and he had rapidly moved to the front ranks of jazz musicians, working with Jackie McLean, Eric Dolphy, and Miles Davis. More than a fine drummer, Williams was a musical visionary, and with Life Time he recorded one of the most forward-looking of the Blue Note albums of the '60s.

Dexter Gordon - The Complete Columbia Albums Collection (2011) {7CD Set, Columbia 886979189126 rec 1976-1980}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.87 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.11 Gb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 302 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1976-80, 2011 Columbia / Legacy / Sony Music | 88697918912 6
Jazz / Hard Bop / Bop / Saxophone

Tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon had been an expatriate since 1963 when he discovered Europe was where the consistently paying jazz gigs were to be found. In 1976 he returned to the States and began recording for Columbia Records and also embarked on an acting career. Sony Legacy repackaged and re-released six Dexter Gordon albums of that era in their entirety with mini-LP sleeves and original cover art: Homecoming: Live at the Village Vanguard (1976), Sophisticated Giant (1977), Manhattan Symphonie (1978), Live at Carnegie Hall (1978), and Gotham City (1980).

Grant Green - Idle Moments (1963) {1999 Rudy Van Gelder Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 396 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 145 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 24 Mb
© 1999 Capitol / Blue Note | 0724 49003 2 5 | 24-bit remaster
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Hard Bop

It was always a part of Blue Note's development and marketing to introduce new artists as sidemen on more well-known leaders' projects before giving them dates of their own. The system worked pretty well, and the irony is that a release like 1963's IDLE MOMENTS looks likes more of an all-star session in retrospect. Sure, we get to hear Grant Green stretching out. But we also get Bobby Hutcherson and Joe Henderson, who were just winning their first Downbeat polls at the time..

Jackie McLean - One Step Beyond (1963) {2009 BN Rudy Van Gelder Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 316 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 114 Mb
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© 2009 Blue Note / Capitol | 50999 2 65139 2 8 | 24-bit remaster
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop / Saxophone

A standout in Jackie McLean's discography, and one of the gems in the wave of early-'60s jazz that blended post-bop with the avant garde, ONE STEP BEYOND is an album that stands the test of time. Reflecting McLean's blues-drenched roots, but versed in the then-new innovations of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, this 1963 date looks forward and backward at once, stepping outside tradition while still swinging intensely.